The churchwardens of St. Margaret's hold a valuable old loving-cup, presented 1764, and a tobacco-box purchased at Horn Fair for fourpence, and presented to the overseers by a Mr. Monck in 1713. Each succeeding set of overseers has added to the decoration of the box or given it a new case, and many of these are beautifully engraved; on the inside of the original lid Hogarth engraved on a silver plate the bust of the Duke of Cumberland of Culloden celebrity, and the whole set is now of great value and is quite unique. The door of the church opposite the Houses of Parliament is open daily from eleven till two.
WESTMINSTER SCHOOL.
Outside the archway leading to Dean's Yard there is a granite column to the memory of the Westminster boys who fell in the Crimean War and Indian Mutiny. It was designed by Gilbert Scott, R.A. Scott was also the architect of the houses over the archway close at hand. The school has been long and intimately associated with the Abbey; there was probably a scholastic establishment carried on by the monks from the very earliest days, and recent discoveries by Mr. Edward Scott in the Abbey muniments prove that there was a grammar school—and not only a choir school—in existence before the Reformation. On the dissolution of the Abbey in Henry VIII.'s reign, it was formed into a college of Secular Canons, and the school was in existence then in dependence on the Canons. Queen Elizabeth remodelled her father's scheme and refounded the school, calling it St. Peter's College, Westminster, which is still its correct designation; so that, though the present establishment owes its origin to Queen Elizabeth, it may be said to have inherited the antiquity of its predecessor, and to hold its own in that matter with Winchester and Eton.
If we pass under the archway into Dean's Yard, we find a backwater indeed, where the roar of traffic scarcely penetrates, where sleek pigeons coo in the elm-trees round a grass plot, as if they were in the close of one of the sleepiest of provincial towns instead of in the midst of one of the greatest cities in the world. On the east side there is a long building of smoke-blackened, old stone. The door at the north end leads into the cloisters, from whence we can pass into the school courtyard, otherwise the school entry is by a pointed doorway a little further down, beneath the Headmaster's house. Entering this, we have on the left Ashburnham House, on the right the houses of masters who take boarders, and opposite, a fine gateway with the arms of Queen Elizabeth over it; this is said to have been designed by Inigo Jones. The greater part of the buildings was designed by Wren, who died before the project was carried out, but there seems to be little doubt that the Earl of Burlington, who followed him in the appointment, used Wren's plans. The great square building, the scholars' dormitory (now cubicles), which faces us, standing a little way to the right of the ornamental gateway, is of this period; also much of the main building into which we enter by the gateway above mentioned, and a flight of steps. The seventh form room on the right has a fine ceiling of Italian plaster and bookcases with carved panels. This is known as Dr. Busby's Library, because built by him. It looks out over the college garden.
The great schoolroom beyond, known as Up-School, is a splendid room, with mighty beams in its fine timber roof, and panels with the arms of Westminster boys now dead on the walls. The bar over which the pancake is tossed on Shrove Tuesday is pointed out, and a very great height it is. At the upper end of the room, which, by the way, is now used only for prayers, concerts, etc., is the birching-table, black and worn with age and use. Dryden's name, carved on a bench, is shown, and a chair presented by King Charles to Dr. Busby. The walls date originally from the twelfth century or earlier, but were practically rebuilt in the end of the eighteenth century. The only part of the college buildings which formed part of the original school is the college hall, built by Abbot Litlington in 1380 as the monks' refectory. But by far the oldest part of the buildings at present incorporated in the school is the Norman crypt, approached from the dark cloister, and forming part of the gymnasium made by the Chapter in 1860, by roofing in the walls beyond it, between it and the Chapter-house. A stranger gymnasium, surely, no school can boast.
The name of Dr. Busby, Headmaster from 1638 to 1695, will be for ever held in honour at Westminster. He himself had been a Westminster boy, and all his great ability and strong character were bent to furthering the interests of the school.
The roll of names of those educated at Westminster includes Dryden, Bishop Atterbury, Cowley, Warren Hastings, Gibbon, Thomas Cowper, Charles Wesley, Lord John Russell, and many others well known wherever the English tongue is spoken.
In 1706 there were nearly 400 boys, but after this the school began to decline; in 1841 it was at a very low ebb—there were less than seventy boys. The reasons for this decline were manifold. Building had been going on apace round the quiet precincts, and parents fancied their sons would be better in the country; also, though the charges were high, the system of living was extremely rough, and no money was spent on repairing the buildings. In 1845, when Wilberforce was appointed Dean, he set to work to inspire fresh life into the institution, but he had hardly time to do anything before he was appointed to the See of Oxford; however, the current set flowing by him gathered strength, and in 1846, when Liddell (afterwards Dean of Christchurch) was made Headmaster, the school was recovering its prosperity.
Ashburnham House was taken over by the school in 1882, and it is well worth a visit. In the hall where the day boys have their lockers there is a very old buttery hatch, probably part of the monks' original building; at the back the little green garden is the site of the refectory, and traces of Norman windows are seen against the exterior cloister wall. The staircase in Ashburnham House is very fine; it is of the "well" variety, and is surmounted by a cupola with a little gallery. The walls are all panelled; unfortunately, paint has been laid on everything alike, and though the balusters have been recently uncovered, the process is difficult and laborious, and apt to injure the carving. The carving round the doorways is very fine, of the laurel-wreath pattern associated with the period of Wren. The house belonged to Lord Ashburnham, and was later used by the Prebendaries of the cathedral. The school is no longer in any sense dependent on the Abbey, and except that the boys attend the services there as "chapel," the old ties are severed. A great feature of the school are the King's (or Queen's) Scholars, founded by Elizabeth; of these there are now forty resident and twenty non-resident. There are three scholarships and three exhibitions yearly at Christ Church, Oxford, for Westminster boys, and three exhibitions at Trinity College, Oxford. There are at present (1902) about two hundred and thirty boys in the school. The Latin play, which is well known in connection with the school, is acted by the King's Scholars annually in the middle of December, and dates back to 1704.